2 Timothy chapter 2. I just have three verses of scriptures
I want to read to you. Verse 8 and verse 9 and verse
10. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse
8. Remember that Jesus Christ of
the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel. wherein I suffer trouble as an
evildoer, even unto bonds, imprisonment. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endear all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Some think, and it's probably
so, that this is the last epistle that the Apostle Paul wrote.
I'm not for sure if that's so or not, but we do know that in
this epistle, he said, I've finished my course. I've run the race. I've finished my course. I'm
now ready to be offered. It seemed like this was, in a
sense, a farewell letter. And he wasn't writing so much
to instruct Timothy, Though that's in this epistle. But it seems
like, as you read this epistle, that he's writing to encourage
him and to bring him to remembrance. Not so much to teach him something
new, but to encourage him to hold fast what he already knows. Sometimes you and I don't like
to be reminded. It gets old. Doesn't it? We were
that way when we were children. My mother used to always remind
me, when your dad gets home, you're in trouble. And I used
to say, don't remind me. Just don't remind me. But we
need to be reminded. And you'll notice in this little
epistle, the Apostle Paul is often bringing Timothy to remembrance. And that's what he does here
in our text. Remember. Remember. Now, look
here with me in chapter 1 and verse 13. Timothy already knew
this, but the Apostle Paul encourages him, hold fast the form of sound
words. Hold it fast. Don't let it go. We don't want opinions. One person's
opinion is just as good as another person's opinion. We don't need
the commandments of men. And though it's good for denominations
and local churches to get together and write them up their doctrines
of faith, we don't need that as much as we need sound words. And where do we get sound words?
What is sound words? The word means that it's incorruptible
words. It's words that do not rot, do
not decay. Do you know where we can find
any words that is uncorruptible? That is indefile, that never
fades away. Well, here it is, I just read
it to you. It's this Bible. It's this Bible. And Paul goes
on here in the third chapter and says, Timothy from the child,
from a little child, You've known the Holy Scriptures. Hold fast
the farm of sound words. And then he tells him something
else. Look over in the third chapter, in verse 14. Many of these things he just
tells him and reminds him. He does it so much, as I say,
right to teach him something new. You know, you and I sometimes,
brothers and sisters, it's not something new that we need. We
need to be reminded of what we already know. To hold fast what
we already have. Hold it so fast that we lose
nothing of it. Look what he says here. But continue
thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured
of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." Continue in the
things that you've been taught, that somebody taught you, that
you've learned. Who is it that teaches us? I know that we've got our teachers.
You've got a pastor. I get you and open the Scriptures. But who really does the teaching?
When He has come, when the Spirit of truth has come, He will teach
you. He will guide you. We've heard
Christ. We've heard Him through His Word.
We've been taught of Christ as the truth is in Jesus. That's
what he asked Timothy there. Who did you learn these things
from? Knowing of whom you learned them. And you notice how he says
it? When the Lord teaches you something, Then you're assured
of it. You're assured of it. And then
you can continue in it. Don't give it up. And you know
something? I've noticed this, and I bet
you have too. When the Lord teaches you something, you don't give
it up so easily. We hear a lot of what man teaches
us, and it gets in this ear, but we soon forget it. And it's
because we weren't assured of it. And because we weren't assured
of it and taught of it, we don't continue in it. I have a friend
of mine, a couple of years ago, he called me and said, I need
to come out and talk with you. And he came out and he said, I just
want to tell you that I don't believe in particular redemption
anymore. I don't believe in particular
redemption. I don't believe that Christ redeemed His sheep upon
the cross. And nobody else. I don't believe
that anymore. That's been two or three years ago. He called
me last week and said he wanted to come out and sit and talk
again, just to see how I was doing. And as he sat there and
talked to me, he is a dear friend of mine, but as he sat there
and talked to me, I looked at him and listened to him and I
thought to myself, you have changed what you believe. You have not
continued in the things that you profess to know. What happened? Why didn't you
do that? And the only conclusion I could come up with, the Lord
had not taught it to them. I hadn't changed. I'll tell you one thing, I haven't
changed a thing that the Lord has taught me. I've noticed that. I was sitting there thinking
to myself, I haven't changed in years. I threw away a lot
of my opinions. I've had to let go a lot of my
personal convictions. But I have noticed what God has
taught me in His Word. I just haven't let go of it.
I have continued in it. Why didn't He do that? Why didn't
my dear friend continue in that? All I can figure out is the Lord
hadn't taught it to him. See, we've got two sets of ears.
We've got these on our head. And we hear it with them. But
we've got ears on our hearts, on our souls. And the Lord Jesus,
when He taught His disciples, He said, listen, let my sayings
sink down deep into your ears. Deep into your ears? He's talking
about the ears of the heart. Get this in your heart. Be like
those Bereans. When I tell you something, don't
just take my word for it, dear soul. Go home and open up your
Bibles and ask the Lord to give you the truth. Where? In your
heart. And when you do, when you get
it in your heart and you're assured of it, you can continue in it. I don't think we need so much
new stuff. It ain't that we need to know
some new things. We just need to continue in what the Lord
has already taught. And why is that? Well, go back
to my text. Go back to my text. Paul is not going to teach Timothy
some new thing. He just wants him to remember
what he already knows. Remember that Jesus Christ of
the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel. Now, why does he instruct Timothy
and encourage him to remember who Christ was and what Christ
did that He raised from the dead? Well, here's why, brothers and
sisters. This world, what this world believes, what
this world promotes, its doctrines and its traditions and its philosophy,
it's always revolving. It doesn't evolve, it just revolves. The era that's being taught in
our day concerning Jesus Christ, concerning the gospel, concerning
the truth, it was taught hundreds of years ago. Did you know that?
The strangest thing in the world, that when an era creeps up, You
can go back hundreds of years ago and say, there it was back
there. It just evolves and goes around
and comes right back again. The church either stands against
it and refutes it, or it just dies out on its own. But then
it comes right back. Paul said, remember, remember,
there's a need to remember who Christ is and what He's done. because of the error of this
world. There was two errors concerning
the person of Jesus Christ, and Paul deals with both of them
in his epistles. They're both errors concerning
Jesus Christ. You know if we're wrong about
Christ, we're wrong about everything else. If we're not right When it comes
to the person of Christ, we are wrong about everything else.
We must be right about Him before we can be right about everything
else. There were two eras concerning the person of Christ. Paul deals
with both of them. He deals with one of them in
the first epistle of Timothy. Look over here at it in 1 Timothy
chapter 3. The first error that he dealt
with, and the Lord Jesus Himself dealt with it while He was upon
this earth. And that, who was Jesus of Nazareth? He was God
in the flesh. And when He said, I and My Father
are one, we're one in our essence, we're one in our being. Is Jehovah
God? I'm God. We're one and the same. And the Pharisees picked up stones
to stone him. And he said, why are you going
to stone me? Because of some good deed that I've done? And
they said, no, because you being a man, you make yourself God. There was no doubt in the opinion
of the enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ, they knew what he was
talking about when he said, I am God. You're a man. You're just a man. And you're
making yourself God. Look here how Paul cleared up
this mystery and this truth. Look in chapter 3 and look in
verse 16. Without controversy. There's
just no doubt about it. We're not even going to fuss
about this. It's settled among God's people. Grave is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest. in the flesh,
justified in the Holy Spirit, seed of angels, priest unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and was received up unto
glory." God was revealed in human flesh. And brothers and sisters,
who was received up into glory? We find that everywhere. You
go read the last of the Gospels, At least three of them tells
us that when Jesus Christ finished giving commandment to His disciples,
He was received up into heaven. Who was? God, the God-Man, Jesus
Christ. There was no doubt who Jesus
Christ was. He was God. That's pretty much
settled. But then after our Lord ascended
into heaven, Another era arose. Now here's how sly and slick
the devil is. You think he can't twist people
and turn this thing upside down. After the Lord Jesus was gone,
after he was out of sight, and no man could see him anymore,
he's in heaven, then they came up with this other lie. They
came and said this, you know Jesus Christ was God. But he wasn't a man. I have a quote here. Here's a
quote. I got this quote from somewhere back in the first century.
I don't even know exactly when it was or who wrote it. But here's
a quote, a direct quote from one of the promoters that Jesus
Christ was God, but he said because He's God, He can't be man. Because man is sinful and God
is holy. Therefore, how could God take
flesh which is sinful? Or He'd be a sinner too. So this
man said this, there was in Jesus Christ only the appearance of
a man. Not a man with a real human soul
and real human body. See how smart the devil is. See
how slick he is. See, while the Lord Jesus was
here upon this earth, there was no doubt He was a man. Have a
man see. It would have been utterly ridiculous
for you to say, well, He's not even a man. Well, He is a man. It's after He left here, you
see, when we couldn't see Him anymore, that they said He wasn't
a real man. He's just the appearance of a
man. This is why Paul comes here and says this, that he was of
the seed of David. Paul proved that Jesus Christ
was a real man. Do you remember when Mary and
Joseph were told to go to Bethlehem? They had to go there and register. They were taxed. Do you remember
why they had to go to Bethlehem? Because that was the city of
David. They were of David's lineage. They had to go there to enroll.
Now, why is that so important? Because Christ was to come out
of David's seed. David was of the tribe of Judah,
and Christ came out of that tribe. You remember when the angel Gabriel
came to Mary and said, Mary, you're going to conceive in your
womb and bear a son, and he's going to be great, and he's going
to set upon the throne of his father, David. When Christ came,
boy, the throne of David was gone, wasn't it? He was the king. David was the king over Judah.
I hope everybody don't leave me while I preach at one time.
But David was the king over Judah. But boy, when Christ come, that
seed royal was almost gone. There was no king except that
wretched Herod. He sat on the throne. But when
the wise men came, they said, where is he that's born King
of the Jews? Why did they call him that? They
knew Christ was coming out of David's seed. And David's seed
was a royal seed. And when Christ was born, He
was going to be born the Son of David, therefore the King.
So they said, where is He that's born King? And you know nobody
ever did question that when Christ was here. And don't you imagine
the Pharisees and the scribes and the Herodians went down there
where they kept the records and said, let's see who this man
really is. He may be a Gentile for all we know. And they got
the records out. And Jews kept good records. I mean, that's the way they had
it, tracing their lineage. Paul traced his all the way back
to the tribe of Benjamin. And they got out the records.
And they said, well, here's what the records show. This Jesus,
this Christ, boy, His lineage. It goes back to this one, that
one, that one. It goes all the way back to King David. He's
a David seed. Yeah. Yeah. He's a real man. He's a real man. No doubt about
that. You'd think there'd have been
any doubt about that. They wouldn't have exposed it. But they never
did. Why? Because Christ was the seed
of David. He was a real man, wasn't He?
He was a real man. What do you think of Christ?
What do you think of Christ? The Pharisees came to Him one
day and they were asking these questions. The Lord kept answering
their questions. And they finally finished and
He said, now let me ask you one question. What do you think of
Christ? What do you think of the Messiah?
Whose Son is He? And they said, He's the Son of
David. They knew that. He said, okay, let me ask you
one more question. If he's the son of David, why
does David call him his Lord? Because David said, the Lord
said to my Lord, if he's David's Lord, why does David call him
his son? If he's David's son, why does
David call him his Lord? They said, man, we don't know
how to answer that. He was David's Lord, wasn't He?
Because He was God. And He was David's Son because
He was to the lineage of David. He came out of David. And that's
why everybody, seemingly, that came to Christ kept saying, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. They were poor, blind, born of
Beth, wasn't He? He heard that Jesus passed by. And somebody
had told Him, this is a real man. This is the son of David. And he began to cry out, O thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And one woman, remember the Canaanite
woman, the Gentile woman that came to him and her daughter
was vexed with the devil? Boy, she found both sides of
this man. Because she came and said, Lord, thou son of David. He wasn't this son of David,
but he was the Lord, the son of David. Have mercy on me. Who
is Christ? He's God. And He's man. Joined in one glorious person. Jesus Christ. And notice how Paul says it here
too. In verse 8, the last portion of it, He was raised from the
dead. He was raised from the dead. Why is that so important? Next
week we celebrate Easter, the resurrection. Of course, we celebrate
it year-round. We don't wait until Easter to
talk about the resurrection. But why is that so important?
Why is the resurrection so important? Why is it essential? Well, the
last time most men, Glenn, saw Jesus of Nazareth, He was hanging
on a cross. And He was in a lot of trouble.
A lot of trouble. As a matter of fact, many people
went home that day thinking, boy, that man was forsaken of
God because they hear him say it. My God, my God. Can you imagine dying forsaken
of God? It can't be well with any man
that dies forsaken of God, can it? There he hanged with our
sin in his blood with God's judgment upon him, forsaken of God. But here Paul affirms that he's
raised. Why is that so essential? What
if He hadn't raised? What if He had died with our
sins on Him and God's judgment upon Him, and He stayed dead?
You know what that would have told us? His sacrifice meant
nothing. His sacrifice wasn't enough.
God didn't accept His sacrifice. But when Paul says here, He raised
from the dead, that means He abolished death. He put it away. He destroyed it. Our sins are
gone. They are no more. The judgment
of God is satisfied. Wrath of God, it's gone. All
our enemies have been defeated. How do we know that? Jesus Christ
is raised. Behold the place where He lay.
He's not here anymore. He's gone. Where is He? On the
Father's right hand. How come Him there? Because he
finished the Father's work. I tell you, it's important for
this reason also. His resurrection assures every saint that they'll
be raised also. See, Christ, and we've often
said this, brothers and sisters, Christ was not a private person.
He was a public person. He was a representative of His
people. God made Him responsible for His people. He didn't come
for Himself. He didn't need to do that. And
when He raised from the dead, the Scripture says He's the firstfruits. He's just the first one among
many. But when He raised from the dead
and entered heaven, that was a guarantee that all those who
are in Him who are saved by Him will likewise be raised from
the dead and enter that glorious city, heaven, with Him." Ain't that a wonderful truth? Christ is of the seed of David.
He's a real man, a God-man, but He's raised from the dead. And Paul said, according to my
gospel. According to my gospel. And you
know, I was going to mention this. It split my mind, but I
was going to mention this. You know, when the Lord Jesus
raised from the dead, when He died upon the cross and raised
from the dead, you know He reconciled everything to God. I mean, it's not just about our
souls. Bless His holy name, it's about that. It's about our bodies
too. But it's not just about that.
It's about this world and heaven. There's coming a day when you
will see a taint of sin in this world or in heaven. It's all
going to be made new. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. That's what the
cross and the resurrection of Christ is about. God hath reconciled
all things to Himself, and He's going to make everything new.
Everything new. And Paul said that's his gospel.
See it there in the last portion of verse 8? According to my gospel. Now, when Paul says my gospel,
you and I find this throughout his writings. But he doesn't
mean it's his exclusively. He said Christ raised from the
dead according to my gospel. Well, Christ raised from the
dead according to Peter's gospel. And according to John's gospel.
He raised from the dead according to my gospel, your gospel. This is Paul's gospel, but he's
not the author of it. It was just entrusted with him
to preach. It's entrusted with me. It's
entrusted with you to preach. And it's the same gospel, isn't
it? My gospel. Look in verse 9. This is an amazing thing. You
consider it in its context. That's all I preach, he said,
the gospel, this glorious gospel. And look at this, because I preach
it, I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds. It's one of the most amazing
things. I don't know what shows man's utter ruin and depravity
any more than this. How does the world feel? about
these messengers of the gospel. How has the world treated them? These apostles, Peter and James
and John and Matthew, these godly men, you know if they'd have
been thieves, if they'd have been deceitful people, hypocrites,
it'd have been different. But here was the best man this
world has ever known. They were honest men, good men.
The most gracious and the most generous men I've ever read about
in my life. Why, they'd have died before
they'd have cheated somebody. They never would have lied. How did this world treat them?
Why, the Lord said, they're going to put you out of their synagogue. They're going to falsely accuse
you. They are going to misrepresent you. They are going to beat you. They are going to kill you. Why? For preaching salvation? For preaching through Jesus Christ
the forgiveness of sins? For telling people there is a
real hope? Isn't that amazing? I can understand
if they were teaching polygamy like some people do in our day.
You know a denomination that preaches that or used to and
that put up with it? Or some of these TV evangelists
bumming poor widows out of their money? I can understand the world
looking down on men like that and putting them in jail. But
this man, five times, Five times, he said,
the Jews tied me up. Five times they tied me up and
gave me 39 straps across my back. That's 195 straps with a leather
strap. I saw a documentary the other
day of men using a whip And they can cut wood. I saw
him cut a two-by-four through. He cut a two-by-four with that
whip. Popping that whip on that two-by-four
until he cut in two. Just a few licks cut in two.
Can you imagine 195 times he said, I bury in my body the marks
of Jesus Christ. Three times. He said, they beat
me with a rod. Some people didn't survive one
whipping with a rod. Why would they do this? Why does
the world hate the messengers of the gospel? I have some dear
family. I love them, and they love me. But when it comes to the gospel,
When it comes to the gospel, they want nothing to do with
me. When I go home down south, I'll
say, I'm preaching over here tonight, would you come and hear
me? They won't even answer me. They'll just look down. They give me a bed to sleep in,
fix some of the best meals for me, they hug my neck and love
me to death until it comes to the gospel. And as far as I'm concerned about
the gospel, they could put me in prison. They could put me
in chains. Why is that? There's no reason
for it, brothers and sisters. There's no reason for it. The
only reason men have is their utter depravity and hatred of
Jesus Christ. They hate you because they hated
me first. Ain't that so? I've asked these
neighbors to come and hear the gospel. I've asked these neighbors
to come and hear the gospel. We've invited this neighborhood
to come. Have they come? No. I wonder why. I think the issue is right here,
don't you? I bet the issue is right here. I suffer for the
gospel's sake, simply because I preach. It ain't about me. It ain't about you, Clarence.
It's about the Gospel. It ain't about a bad attitude.
Oh, God, deliver us from a bad attitude. I don't want to go
around telling people they're going to hell. If I do that,
I hope I've got tears in my eyes. I hope there's a sob and a brokenness
in my heart when I remind people that they're going to perish.
But it's not a bad attitude that we've got. It's not even a dogmatic
attitude. It's just that people don't like
the gospel. It shows in this dear man. This
man who denied himself, gave up everything. Loving, tender,
gentle man. And what did they do with him?
Put him in jail. Bound him in chains. But I love
this. Boy, look at this. Verse 9, I
suffer trouble. They treat me as an evildoer.
Even in the bonds, they bound me. They put me in a chain in
jail. But the Word of God is not bound. I know of nothing that so encourages
me to preach than things like this right here. The Word of
God is not tied up. The preacher is tied up. The
preacher's in jail, but the Word of God is free. It's sovereign. And I'll tell you what it'll
do. Listen to this. Here's what it'll do. It makes
its way irresistible into a dark heart and brings light with it. It makes its way irresistible
into a rebellious heart and brings surrender with it. What will
you have me to do? It comes irresistibly into a
hard heart and it breaks it. It comes to an unbelieving heart
and brings faith with it. It comes to a dead heart and
brings life with it. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit. You can't bind a spirit, can
you? These words are spirit. When God is pleased to use these
words, When He wills to use it, you can't resist it. You can't
bind it. You can't tie it up. You'll be
going along your merry way, minding your own business, not concerned
about heaven or salvation of your soul. And suddenly, this
Word drops out of the sky into your heart, and it arrests you,
and you can't get away. And you can't bind it. You can't
tie it up. Oh, the Word of God. It's called
a hammer. Is not My Word like a hammer?
And boy, He'll come like a hammer beating on the heart. Beating
on the heart. And it beats and beats on the
heart until finally what happens? It breaks. Jeremiah said it's like a fire.
Your Word is like a fire. We've got all this clutter within
us. And here comes the fire and burns
the self-righteousness up, burns the free will up, burns our independence
up, and leaves us nothing but a scorching ground. And there
we say, Lord, water your earth. Water it. It's not bound, brothers
and sisters. The Word is not bound. I'm bound. I'm bound. Sometimes if you knew
what was going on in my mind while I'm trying to preach to
you, I'm glad you can't see my mind while I'm preaching to you.
Some of you would laugh. Some of you would get mad. Some
of you would spit at me or throw a salt bucket at me. You're sorry
man, you'd say. Sometimes I ain't got a clear
thought. I can't even think of my name. I went over to preach for Scott
Richardson years ago. I never will forget this. And
I didn't have anything to say. I just didn't have anything to
say. I feared I didn't have anything to say when I got up. And I'd
been there preaching about five minutes and my fear was confirmed.
Buddy, you ain't got nothing to say. I read my text. Tried to comment on it. Go back
and read my text again and try to comment on it. I finally quit.
And I left and come home. And I thought, those poor sheep.
Those poor sheep. They deserve better than this.
And a lady wrote me a letter. And she said, when you got up
Sunday morning and read your text, she didn't say anything
about what I said about it, but she said, when you read your
text, it went home to my heart and power. That's what it is,
brothers and sisters. It's not my feeble efforts to
comment on it. It's the Word itself. And when
God wills it, when the Holy Spirit yields it, as the sword is His,
I'm telling you what, He'll cut through everything to get to
your heart. And you can't get away from it. The Word is not bound. The Word
is not bound. Look in verse 10 now, in the
light of this. Therefore. Therefore. See the difference that makes?
Paul, are you getting ready to quit? Are you just going to give
up the ministry, Paul? Are you so discouraged, Paul,
that you're just going to sit down and say, well, it's time.
I'm finished now. And I just ain't going to try
anymore. No, I'm down. Look at me sitting
here in this prison. And hear what he said. You don't
have to do that, see? Therefore, I endear all things
for the elect's sake. The Word of God is not bound.
It's free. It's sovereign. Therefore, I
just keep on preaching. They put me in prison, I get
an opportunity, I preach. When I feel good, I preach, because
it ain't about my feelings. You know, this is the most wonderful
thing, because it tells us we don't have to compromise. The Word of God is not bound.
So we just keep on preaching the truth, and God's going to
save His elect. We don't have to change anything.
We don't have to come up with gimmicks. I don't have to start
telling people, you need to come up front. So you can be saved. I don't have to take the place
of the Holy Spirit. That's none of my business. My business is to just keep on
preaching. Why? Because the Word is free. It's free. It will accomplish
its purpose. I endear all things for the elect's
sake. You know the Lord has some elect
people that He hasn't even called yet. You realize that? Ain't that encouraging? Man,
ain't that encouraging? Bruce, I thought he elected people
when he saved them. No, no, dear child. Election
took place before the foundation of the world. That's already
done. That was God's business. But
He's saving them in time. And He's saving them by the Gospel,
by this Word. And it's a wonderful thing to
know that He will save them. They shall be saved. Look back, just one or two pages
back, in 2 Thessalonians. Look at this in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 13. Look at this. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse
13. The Lord Jesus, in John chapter 10, He said, Other sheep I have. They're not of this folk. That
is, they're not of the Jews. They're Gentiles. Them I must
bring. I haven't brought them yet, but
I'll bring them. They're my sheep. See, believing
don't make us a sheep, does it? We believe because we are sheep.
And the Lord Jesus said, I've got some sheep, I've got some
elect people out there, and I must bring them. And boy, the apostles
got a hold of that. Those preachers in the New Testament
got a hold of that. You mean He's got some people
He's going to save? And they just went everywhere preaching
when they felt like it and when they didn't. They just went preaching.
And the Lord saved His people. He started calling them by the
Gospel. That's what He says here. Look
in 2 Thessalonians 2. Look at verse 13. We are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brother, beloved, of
the Lord, because God has, from the beginning, chosen you to
salvation. And He's going to save you through
sanctification of the Spirit, and you'll believe in the truth.
Look in verse 14. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel. See that? He chose you to salvation. Therefore, He called you to salvation.
Look what he says over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. He reminded them what
he had already told them in chapter 1. Look in chapter 1, look in
verse 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
4. Knowing, brethren and beloved, your election of God. You know
God elected you. He chose you to salvation. He
gave you to Christ. How do you know that? Verse 5.
For our gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what
manner of men we were among you for your sake." See how you know
your election? He calls you by the gospel. I'm
just going to keep on preaching by God's grace, by God's help,
where I feel like it, but where I don't, for the elect's sake. And I can't believe in a city
this size that God don't have some elect people here that He
hasn't called yet. I'm just going to believe that
He's got some here that He hasn't called yet. And if you'll be
pleased to use this little tiny congregation, maybe you'll call
some. Wouldn't that be wonderful? And
you can't never tell who they are. You just don't know who
they are. It's not our business to go around
looking for them. We wouldn't know if we saw them.
Would you have thought a thief on the cross in his dying hours
was one of them? I never would have thought that.
What about Saul of Tarsus who was killing Christians? Would
you have thought he was a chosen vessel? There may be some of you here
this morning, and you're sitting here under the sound of my preaching.
I don't know you're one of his, and maybe you don't know it.
And if he hasn't called you yet, you don't know it. But what if
you're one of them? Think of that. What if you were
one of the elect? God wrote your name down in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the world. What if you were one of
them? Oh, I'm just thinking about that. This thrills my soul. You
know why? Because if you're one of them,
the Word of God is going to come to your heart. It's going to
get in you. It's going to come into your
darkness and your ignorance and your deadness. It's going to
bring wisdom and understanding and life and love. And you're
going to be saved. I endure all things for the elect's
sake. And not only for those that haven't been called among
the elect. I tell you, I just keep on preaching for those that
He has called. Clarence, you need to hear me
preach, don't you? You need to be encouraged. You need correction,
instruction. All God's children. And I tell
you, one thing I found out in preaching to God's little elect
children, You have to be so patient with them. You have to endear
with them. You have to be long-suffering
with them. And I'm so thankful that's the way it is, because
I want them to. I want them to. I endear all
things for the elect's sake. One last point, and I'll close
with this. Look what a glorious end Look what a glorious end. That
they may obtain salvation. Oh my, isn't that wonderful?
That they may obtain salvation. We wrote a little article in
the Bulletin. I hope you read it on what it
means to be saved. We're going to have several of
those little articles, what it means to be saved. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? I say this a
lot. To be saved from sin, to be saved from guilt. Guilt's
an awful thing, ain't it? Especially when you look at it
in the light of eternity. Saved from the awful wrath of
God. The elect obtain salvation. Forgiveness of all their sins.
They obtained that. They obtained life eternal. You know, people work so hard
to obtain things. There's people who stay up. You
and I know students who stay up. They put in these all-nighters,
they call them, because they've got a test coming the next day.
They want to obtain a degree. You've got people that will stand
in line for hours to obtain a job. You've got people who will almost
starve themselves and exercise just to obtain good health and
maintain good health. All of these things are good
in and of themselves. But oh, there's something more
essential, more vital than that to obtain, and that's salvation. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? I endear all things for the elect's
sake, that they may obtain salvation. And look at this. It's not just
about right now. Bless your heart. We need forgiveness
now. We need our souls saved now.
And we want our bodies to be raised in the end of this thing.
But it's not just about temporal things. It's not just about this
life. With eternal glory. That salvation which is in Christ
Jesus, with eternal glory. The Hebrews didn't have a definition
for this word glory. One of their definitions was
heavy. That's all they knew to say about it. Whatever it is,
it's heavy. It's heavy. Glory. Glory. Father, listen to this, Father,
I will, that they whom Thou hast given Me, there's the elect,
be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory. But don't stop with us just beholding
His glory. Listen to this, He called you
by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Whatever His glory is, You're
going to share with it. And Paul said, I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. And John said, it does not yet
appear what we shall be. But when He appears, we shall
be like Him. That's glory. That's glory. He has a glorious body. We'll
be like Him. When by His grace I shall look
on His face and be just like Him, that will be glory. What is this glory? It has something
to do with being just like Him. You can't say any more than that
about Him. What would it mean for you this
morning to be just like Him? Never to know sin again. Never
to feel the sense of it, the burden of it. Never to fall into
it. All you know is righteousness
and peace. and joy and purity and holiness. What would that mean? You say,
oh, I wouldn't ask for any more than that. Me either. Me either. And you know something? That's
a never-ending glory. We not only shall be like Him,
we shall be with Him forever. Eternal glory. No wonder John
the Apostle said, Lord, please, come quickly. Please, come quickly. And I'm preaching this morning,
dear soul, to you. Because I want to be in heaven
with you. A young lady, a young woman came,
sat and talked with Brother Larry, a Jehovah Witness. And Brother
Larry was teaching her. And Larry said, I want me and
you to sit down in heaven someday, together. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Shannon, man, what would it mean?
Me and you sitting in heaven. I tell you, I'd shout and you'd
shout. Me preaching to you here and go to heaven together. That's
my desire. That's my prayer. That's my hope. That everybody
here this morning, we go to heaven together and obtain together
this eternal glory. Well, I tell you, it's in Christ.
It's in Jesus Christ. Nowhere else but in Him. And
you might as well obtain it as anybody, as far as I know. Lord bless His Word. Let's pray.